The ORIGINAL gathering place for a merry band of Three Percenters. (As denounced by Bill Clinton on CNN!)

Saturday, February 27, 2010

“Yeah, but what does that Three Percent thing MEAN?”

“Yeah, but what does that Three Percent thing MEAN?”

The muzzles of three million rifles: A more complete explication of the Three Percent and what our existence means to the rest of the population, the Founders’ Republic and all our futures.

By Mike Vanderboegh

The other day I ran into a fellow who thought he was a Three Percenter but he wasn’t sure. “Yeah,” he said, “but what does that Three Percent thing MEAN?” I explained more or less thusly:

Three Percent: The number of colonists who took the field to actively fight against King George III.

Three Percent: The number of America’s armed citizenry today who can be counted on to actively resist any future restrictions on firearms, or indeed, any more attacks on the God-given natural liberties which are codified in the Constitution (and some that aren’t).

There are, give or take, a hundred million firearms owners in this country. Three percent of that number is three million. So when we speak of the Three Percent, we are talking about three million firearms owners who are politically active, but no longer count on politics alone to defend their liberties. These three million have watched as our traditional right to arms has been attacked and diminished on the federal level for more than 75 years since the National Firearms Act of 1934. In that time, in almost every instance when a new firearm restriction has been proposed, we have lost the political argument and being law-abiding we have allowed ourselves to be shoved back, grumbling. The Three Percent are simply saying, “No more.” One more restriction on our natural liberties -- the liberties the Founders did their best to secure -- and we will resist.

“But what do you mean, ‘resist?’” he asked.

Very simple, I replied, we refuse to obey. If our right to peaceably assemble and personally trade our privately owned arms with other law-abiding citizens is restricted -- the alleged “gun show loophole” --- we will stage our own gun shows and dare the ATF to do anything about it. If the manufacture of ammunition is tampered with by further government restrictions -- punitive taxes, “microstamping,” or other such nonsense -- we will make it ourselves or smuggle it in and dare the federal authorities to do anything about it. If more classes of firearms are added to their onerous bans -- fifty caliber rifles for example -- we will manufacture our own and dare them to do anything about it. We can only be oppressed with our consent, for we are armed. And WE DO NOT CONSENT.

“They will shoot you,” said my new friend, immediately getting to the crux of the matter.

“Yes, they must,” I replied reasonably. “It is what they do. That’s the ultimate threat behind every federal infringement. ‘Do this or we will shoot you.‘ But THEY must fire first. There must be no Fort Sumters. THEY must cede the moral high ground.”

“What happens then?”

“Then,” I replied, “we shoot back in righteous self-defense. There will be no more free Wacos for them. The only thing is, to the greatest extent possible, we must then take the civil war to the people who started it and who direct it -- the political mandarin class who issue the orders -- the elected officials, the unelected bureaucracy and their tyranny’s cheerleaders in the intelligentsia and press who lay the predicate for it. ‘No more free Wacos’ will have personal implications for those people.”

“Isn’t that a threat?”

“It is a promise, but I hope they take it as a very real threat against their future misconduct. If they do, and they begin to internalize the fact that the people who they have shoved around these past seventy-five years are finally ready to shove back -- and that it is THEY who will be personally ‘shoved back’ -- then maybe, just maybe, we can avoid a shooting war. Like Mama Liberty says on my blog, ‘If they don‘t want a civil disturbance, why don‘t they quit disturbing us?’ We‘re not trying to tell them what to do and how to live, THEY are trying to force their beliefs on us -- and take our liberty and property in the bargain while demanding we pay for the privilege of being robbed. If they don‘t want trouble all they have to do is leave us alone.”

“Do you think we can? Avoid it, I mean.”

I sighed. “I hope the Tea Party movement can save the day politically, but I doubt that they will be able to overcome the inertia of the two-party stacked deck. For some of those in the permanent political class, it is in their interest to provoke violence. ‘Let no good crisis go unexploited,‘ as a White House chief of staff would say. For these people, especially if they see they are about to lose power, they may think that it is in their interests to burn the American equivalent of a Reichstag or two, or three. The fault is ours, for we LET them shove us back for seventy-five years with not a single shove back. Why should they expect it now? You can’t really blame them for being who they are. Such people have existed throughout history. You might as well blame a rattlesnake for biting your child when you knew the rattler was living under your porch for years and yet you did nothing about it. The blame is yours. That’s what Ben Franklin was saying when he replied, ‘A Republic, madam, if you can keep it.’” We -- us, our fathers and grandfathers -- have let them get away with stealing our property and our liberty for generations. Now, with our backs to the wall and no further room to give and still call ourselves free, we must deal with the rattlesnakes and eradicate them or, like St. Patrick, drive them into the sea.”

“So we need a revolution?”

No, I replied, we need a RESTORATION. It is they who are the revolutionaries, overthrowing the Founders’ Republic and the Constitution bit by bit, in Gramscian style. (I then had to explain Gramsci, but I shall not do it here. Look it up yourself, if you need to.) We simply want what the Founders wanted -- a Republic of ordered liberty, the rule of law, the right to property, free markets and free men (and women, of course).

“Well, I don’t think they’re going to get it. I think we’ll have to end up shooting them.”

Perhaps, I said, if they have time to get around to it.

“What do you mean?”

“Deficit spending, mountainous debt, printing money to monetize that debt -- the politicians of both parties have handed us a future that represents an existential threat to the country and its people. This administration may not get around to sparking a civil war by tyrannical misadventure, we may have a breakdown of civil order (which, in its worst form could be WORSE than civil war) because the whole house of cards collapses, suddenly and at once. And then it will be up to the Three Percent to save what can be saved.”

“Why just the Three Percent?”

“Because we are the only ones with the numbers and the firearms and because we think like citizens not serfs.”

He gave me a quizzical look.

“Citizens take responsibility for the safety of the community. They do this because they understand that this must be done in order to secure the safety of themselves and their own families. And we will do it because it is necessary, not because somebody pays us to. Look, have you ever come across a car wreck right after it happened?”

“Yeah. Twice.”

“What did you do?”

“Well, I stopped and ran down to the wrecks to see if I could help. I . . .”

I interrupted him. “Stop right there. I don’t need the details. Here’s my point. You stopped, you ran down to see if you could help. That makes you a citizen. There’s no better example of citizenship than that. And while you were down in the ditch, you had plenty of onlookers, didn’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“Was there a big crowd close around the wrecked car?“

“No. Once it was just me and a couple of guys who were riding in my pickup and the other time it was just me and another guy who stopped.”

“Okay, that’s the number of citizens on the scene. The guys who came down with you who had been riding in your truck, they came down because of your leadership probably, right?

“Well, I don’t know, they probably would have stopped themselves.”

“But you led them down into that ditch, right?”\“Yeah.”

“So you are not just a citizen, but a leader of citizens. But there were lots of people who stopped but only called 9-1-1, or people who just stopped and stared or people who kept on driving without doing anything, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Serfs. They drove on because it ‘wasn’t any of their business’ and most of the ones who called 9-1-1 instead of calling and THEN coming down to see if they could help did so because they have been conditioned that only ‘authorities’ are competent to handle an emergency, right? Some of them may be doctors or nurses. The driver or his passengers may be bleeding to death, but if it were up to the serfs the victims would simply bleed to death before they stirred their stumps to help, right?”

“Yeah, I see your point.”

“Serfs. They are not citizens because they take no personal responsibility. They are serfs. Willing, trained serfs. You took responsibility, so you are a citizen.”

“Well, I had some training in the Marines and I went to some classes after I got out . . .”

I cut him off again. “My point exactly. A citizen anticipates trouble and thus when he or she is called upon, they are not only willing to act, but competent to do so. Citizenship is a duty, a responsibility that is willingly assumed, along with the rights and liberties attendant to it. The problem is that the public schools no longer turn out citizens in this country, they are in fact serf factories because that‘s the way that the ‘powers that be’ want it. If you are a tyrant-wannabe, having to deal with citizens is at best inconvenient and at worst dangerous to your liberty- and property-stealing plans. Serfs are much more to their liking.”

“But,” I continued, “look beyond a simple car wreck to a car wreck times a hundred thousand like Katrina. The police did a number of things there that were in their way just as educational to anybody who paid attention as Waco was at the federal level. Some cops ran home to save Momma and the kids, leaving their posts and their duty. Some cops joined the looters. Other cops violated their oaths to the Constitution and either shot and killed innocents like some occupying army or disarmed the law-abiding, leaving them helpless against the rapists, thieves and murderers that they didn’t disarm -- again, like an occupying army. When the whole SYSTEM breaks down, God forbid, Americans, being a practical people, will make their own arrangements. They will work with those law enforcement officers who will stand by their duty and their oaths but, more to the point, they will resist at the muzzle of a rifle (or, I should say, at the muzzles of THREE MILLION RIFLES) anybody -- feds, cops or freelance criminals -- who attempts to ‘Katrina’ them.”

I told him that a nationwide social and economic breakdown will see the revival of citizens’ militias in a huge way -- instantly. However, tragedies will come to those who fail to see the need NOW for preparation, training and that “well regulated” stuff the Founders were talking about. (And if you haven’t studied how the language has changed since the Second Amendment was written, you don’t understand that “well regulated” meant at the time that the militia, the armed citizenry, should be trained, disciplined, with arms of common caliber and agreed upon tactics.)

“That’s still going to be a bunch of tragedies,” he observed.

“Yes, it is,” I answered. “But the question is, do you want to be one of them?”

“No, I don’t,” he answered.

“Then, “ I said with a grin, “you’ve just become a Three Percenter, whether you were before or not.”

“How do I join?”

“The Three Percent is NOT an organization. That would be too easy to kill, too simple to discredit. The Three Percent is an idea, a movement of like-minded people, and that is something that is far harder to kill. Almost impossible, really. You know the Oath, the one that you swore before God when you joined the Marines?”

He allowed that he remembered it, every word of it.

“Then just remember that the oath is not to a man, no matter how popular he is, or to a political party, or to an administration even if a majority of the people gave them the power by voting, but to an idea -- the Founders’ Republic of God-given liberties and natural rights as expressed in the Declaration of Independence and codified in the Constitution. Remember that it is a life-time oath and has no expiration date. Once you realize those things and remember them every morning when you look yourself in the mirror, you’re a citizen. Everything after that is tougher -- organizing your friends and neighbors; preparing and training for the future date when (not if) your military competence and that of your friends will be tested; getting your County Sheriff used to working with armed citizens; and finally, being awake, aware and ready to stand in the gap, come the Waco hell of tyranny or the Katrina high water of natural or social disaster. It is tougher, way tougher, but it must be done.”

He nodded his head, thinking. And in his eyes I saw his decision, if indeed there had ever been a question.

“Welcome,” I told him, “to the Three Percent.” We shook hands, and then fell to talking of his like-minded friends, how big an area of operations he thought he and they could protect, of beans and bullets, and equipment and training.

I hope this has given y’all a better idea of what the Three Percent is, and what it isn’t. What it boils down to is this: the Three Percent are the folks the Founders counted on to save the Republic when everyone else abandoned it.

56 comments:

I WAS gonna say that when you write like that, a chill runs up my leg, but then I realized that it was only Chris Matthews' hand. He mistook me for Keith Untermann.Anyway - this is superb - it would make a guy - or gal - want to re-enlist or stand and salute, or scream "ODEN!" whilst spaying AK fire into the night... or at the very least, hoist the yellow DTOM flag and head into the streets.Keep up the great work.AND - whatever this mysterious reference is to an interview, you'd BEST be letting us know when we can see it!!!Or I'll personally send Dees over your way, in drag, to do a strip tease in front of your plae!

Well said, Kinda gets to the roots of how some got here. God bless you and what you stand for and may God bless me and others that are standing also. Shame that we ended here. Sometimes things just fall on your head and tag your it. I guess it was just ment to fall on this generation and if all isnt lost then it really is up to us. Thanks for standing in the gap. mwp

If anyone lives in Fort Bend County, email me at fbresmilitia@hotmail.com. I have an informal working relationship with the sheriff (he can't formally endorse us, but won't stand in our way as long as we uphold the Constitution).

I am calling it the Fort Bend Reserve Militia, based on the definition found in Texas PL section 431.

You betcha, Mike. Wave the flag and play the song, am with you 100 per. And now that we have that out of the way, when are you going to get serious and get that next chapter posted? The Ides of March cometh, and before you know it all that snow will be melted, the green green grass of home will be covering the land, cotton wood buds will be making the rivers smell sweet, Robins will be singing in the boughs, and I'll be dead and pushing up daisies without ever having read chapter 41. I think the last ammo box of reloads you sent Ringo had a bunch of duds in it and he ain't sending you no more chapters until you make it good - so quit dancing around the rose bush and pay attention to which can you take the powder from - that oregano stuff just don't cut it regardless of what the wife might say, and maybe, just maybe you should get some new specs. You'll quit running into the bathroom door, the cable connection won't get ripped out of the wall by your flailing arms, the computer won't get crashed to floor, the back of your head won't have so many bumps on it - And we'll get the next damn chapter...

I'm in my early 40's. One of my favorite memories from high school is this situation, Ca. ~1982:

III friends and I went to a movie, then to a pizza place and were now walking the ~1.5 miles home. We weren't drinking or smoking the good stuff, werent' being loud, weren't... This actually may have been the one time in our rowdy little lives that we actually were doing NOTHING wrong - a fact which never really occurred to me until I was actually typing this...

We saw literally a second or 2 of flashing colored lights, high-beams and spotlights headed straight for us with the sound of a roaring engine. Startled as hell, we ran to get out of the way of this lunatic...==================================I got carried away with this post - WAAAaay too long for comments - so if you'd like to read the rest, please go to my Blog by following this link...

Mike, you're spot on, as usual. I had given a friend of mine (retired Marine, retired Sheriff's Deputy) the Blog site URL and today he sent this link out to everyone on HIS list. We may well get to four percent or higher before "The Day" comes on us. But come on us it must and will. I just hope it happens soon enough that I don't have to turn this mess over to my sons to deal with... AND I want to be still capable of marching in the Victory Parade!

been here a long time. about twenty years ago, I told my wife she might want to get a divorce. Not because I didn't love her or she didn't love me, but because while working in my flower bed I was thinking about all this. I went into the house told my wife she had options, because I would not back up another step. I would not see their side of it, and I would not give them the benefit of the doubt. I told her it can get dangerous for anybody near me if or when I was pushed one more time, because I wasn't stepping back. I didn't care how many other people did,nor did I care who or how many disagreed with me.

The only caveat I put on it, was that they had to come for me personally. You have to remember twenty years ago only a very few of us were aware of the destructive forces ruining our country. There was no 3%, no tea party, and no one who understood that stance. Ergo, my caveat, when I did not obey the latest theft of my rights,everything would be cool if they left me alone, but I would not submit to them if they came to make an example of me.

So, yeah, I've been here a long time. Was pretty unhappy before that, but had not taken an oath to not back up at all anymore, until that beautiful day surrounded by beautiful flowers in my garden and realized I would no longer be treated as less than a citizen and as less than an adult for no price. The price would be steep if I was good enough and quick enough. Well most of my ability is gone, most of my quick is gone, most of my health is gone. My will is not. So I will do what I must as long as I can.

though I pray I am not forced into that "must" and peaceful resolutions are possible. However, I don't believe it. We trained them too long to believe we would always be too fearful to be men.

The part about involving the Sheriff I TOTALLY disagree with. Perhaps your county sheriff is different. Our sheriff....Ric Wilson in Wayne County, TN is an immoral, corrupt, state sponosored domestic terrorist thug and tyrant who is NOT to be trusted as far as you could throw his corrupt,lard ass.

Part of a well regulated militia is ensuring those in its ranks truly are loyal citzens to the Constitution AND to one another. NOT many law enforcement officers fall into that category unfortunately.

That's a spectacular vision -- but how to get there? Having the Constitution in power has led to the situation we have now. Let me repeat that historical truth: Having the Constitution in power has led to the situation we have now. The track record of county Sheriffs is to support the status quo, and their Wars on Everything. One season of The Dukes of Hazzard contains more political truth than the whole Constitutional movement.

Being a poor wordsmith, I can only say that your analogies express the core beliefs of those of us who choose to stand on a line drawn in the sand! Thank you sincerely for your insight and for sharing it with those of us who do understand.

I was in my last semester in college when Waco happened. The guys next door were talking about "this cult of loonies and child molesters holed up in a compound down in Texas. Oh, and they refuse to pay thier taxes, too."

I remember watching the ongoing coverage on CNN and thinking to myself, "Ya know, this could all end with the Air Force sending a squadron of A-10s, making one pass and just blowing all those nutjobs to smithereens...."

At the time I didn't realize that those thoughts were due to being a product of the modern US public school system.

When it was over, and it was clear to me that the feds had lied, lied some more, and lied yet again about the whole affair, I began to think about things differently.

Over the next 5 years, I began to look into all sorts of things, like legalized thuggery, taxation, the courts, the banks, the ABC agencies, the federal reserve, the UN, NGOs, all that stuff.

What I found made me sick to my stomach.

I began to learn how to "filter" info being passed to us by the media. I began to question the "official line" being put out by any govt entity.

My grandfather, who passed away in 1998 at the age of 93, put it very plainly to me:

"Little by little, they took everything we had. I'm sorry to say that it's both mine and your father's generation's fault for allowing it to happen. Now, it might take a couple more decades, but your generation is going to find yourselves with your backs against the wall and you will have to either fight or die."

Those words have burned in my head ever since.

The five years after Waco was the buildup. That moment with my grandfather just before he died was the "spark" for me which changed my thinking from one of statism to freedom and liberty.

Over the last 12 years, it has been awesome to discover that there are millions of like-minded people out there. I suspect there are a lot more than 3%. Also, (if it comes down to it) many more people who won't pick up a rifle will wage thier own subtle, covert, low-intensity war against the thugs using their own methods of sabbotage, "red tape", etc. I'm talking about people who are secretly fed up but don't know what to do about it.....people who have never been in trouble in thier lives, but are seeing this thuggery come to a head, and they will figure out thier own ways to fight back.

The buildup of our own secession from Breat Britain did not happen overnight.....the seeds were planted long before the French and Indian War and the 1770's is when it blossomed.

So it is with us today. I'm not speaking of secession per se, just a general en-masse of the people saying "NO MORE" to Mordor on the Potomac.....with the 3% raising rifles.

I have read this website every day for a while now, and it has been simply excellent, all the time.

Keep up the good work and we all must keep up the effort to build the 3%.

I am a God fearing American. I am a Oath Keeper. I am a Three Percenter, I am a Well Regulated American Militia man. I serve at the convenience of God, country and family. I know what dedication, commitment and honor is. I know what service to country means.

I have never backed down, and I have never run away. I improvise, adapt and overcome, and I always come back for more. Because liberty, freedom and victory is my DNA. Natural time & triggers will dictate my actions and direction. I pray for this day tyranny. I am coming for you. I am not coming alone.

I honestly believe. Conservative America will stand and we will be victorious in restoring moral law and our foundation. I do believe we will truly and finally be represented. I honestly believe, we will see our conservative majority stand with irons in hand, and it will be greater than 3%. I have a lot of hope in this. We may never need to fire a shot!!

May God bless America again soon and let the many good patriots ride, for God, country and family. With wisdom, knowledge and His guidance. Pack smart, pack tight and make a lot of friends patriots.

BE WARNED TYRANNY: WE THE PEOPLE are coming tyranny. In God I Trust. So Help Me God. WE THE PEOPLE are coming!!!

Keep fighting the good fight Mike Vanderboegh, you are not alone.

Good always wins in the end. Even if it sometimes takes a while to do so, and it isnt always pretty in doing it. A win is a win.

As a practical matter, when does the shooting back start? What is the triggering event? One or two deaths like Ruby Ridge? Multiple deaths like the Boston Massacre of old? Scores, like Waco?

I'm not trying be inciteful, just questioning. Where is the line? I've wrestled with the question myself and can't figure it out, and that's probably what The Powers That Be want - to inflict death by a thousand cuts, with no single event ever sufficient to trigger a response by the citizenry.

But what do we mean by the American Revolution? Do we mean the American war? The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments of their duties and obligations. ... This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people, was the real American Revolution.

The battle over the meaning of the Second Amendment returns to the Supreme Court Tuesday when the justices hear a case that is a follow-up to their historic ruling in 2008 that individuals have a Constitutional right to keep and bear arms.

If you're part of the 'Three Percent' then join up with others. If you live in North Middle Tennessee, go to: http://gittyup-go.tripod.com/nmtcc/,if you live in another part of the country and wish to have a similar site, let me know, I will make it for you FREE! Richard: gittyuprv@yahoo.com

It was never the intent that the "government" would keep within the boundaries of the constitution.

The intent was that you, you, you, you ... and you ... and I ... would prevent the "government" from straying outside the boundaries of the constitution.

We didn't just fail yesterday ... or today. We failed a long long time ago. And every day since.

Keeping the "government" within the boundaries of the constitution is WAY overdue.

Okay, so all 3 million of us will meet up at the capitol building in D.C. ... armed ... next Sunday ... and camp out peacefully until the "government" capitulates and agrees to be bound to the delegated authority and restrictions of the constitution.

Outstanding! I would add a few enhancements.....*) There are over 125 million gun owners in America toaday. That's gun OWNERS only, and does NOT include folks that are competent and trained in the use of firearms, like spouses and teen children. The number of gun weilding folk is considerably HIGHER than 125 million.*) With the above number, there are over 325 million firearms in American citizen hands of all stripes and calibers, with over an estimated 10 BILLION rounds on hand. *) III% is a great rallying call! But i'm willing to wager that when push comes to shove, a damn sight more than that will be stepping up to the plate. They'll do so because they will HAVE to...

Folks in the freedom movement often decry the amount of gun owners ANTICIPATED to sit on the sidelines. I have never WORRIED about that "Silent Majority." Ever. Reason; Many, if not MOST gun owners, live their lives quietly and unobtrusively. They do not draw attention to themselves, many are not even politically active, and most prefer to be off the radar and left alone. Until......UNTIL..... The US govt decides to become a DIRECT THREAT to the well-being of their families. When elements of the US govt begin invading homes, towns, streets, highways and cities with CHAMBERED FIREARMS, party's over. Trust me on one thing.... All of those firearms and ammo being bought up in the wake of Newtown last year? Those were NOT ALL purchased by III percenters..... Nor was the impetus merely future firearms restrictions. That was preparation for push coming to shove.....

There are, give or take, a hundred million firearms owners in this country. Three percent of that number is three million. So when we speak of the Three Percent, we are talking about three million firearms owners who are politically active, but no longer count on politics alone to defend their liberties. These three million have watched as our traditional right to arms has been attacked and diminished on the federal level for more than 75 years since the National Firearms Act of 1934. In that time, in almost every instance when a new firearm restriction has been proposed, we have lost the political argument and being law-abiding we have allowed ourselves to be shoved back, grumbling. The Three Percent are simply saying, “No more.” One more restriction on our natural liberties -- the liberties the Founders did their best to secure -- and we will resist. COMMENT: it just seems to me 3 million muzzle flashes representing 3 million ie, 3% of 100 million are a lot... but ... there seems to me that leaves 97% of the 100 million armed folks as wanting a rational society without the violence of no back ground checks... uh... unless my math is mistaken 97% of 100 million is 97 million.. which is a somewhat larger amount than 3 million.... perhaps in a democratic society that you espouse the 97 have greater voice than the 3% and perhaps.. just perhaps.. it is not a good idea to move to a "showdown" between 3% vs 97%... just sayin...

I think I have finally found my answer in this blog. Thank you for writing this. My understanding of this is, I have been a III %er for years and didn't even know it. Now I know and I am proud to know. Thank you again.

My FOID card expired; after reading and truly understand and supporting I will renew immediately. I have purchased a don't tread on me flag and will proudly display. Thank you for making me hold my head up and know that I matter.

What you are writing makes complete sense. But I ask you... what about the senseless killings at schools, shopping centers and at the homes of these irresponsible gun owners whose children are killed by their guns? Aren't these the innocents you want to protect? I realise that the government are persecuting everyone because of these tragedies. But as an educated person, how would you go about trying to protect the innocent from pointless and violent deaths, without stepping on the constitution and your rights as an American?

You said it in your Question my friend the word "Irresponsible" and it will always have consequences .The Snake under your porch that bites your child ,the gun locker you left unlocked. Who is responsible for those ? A citizen takes responsibility,a serf blames someone else. A citizen knows his rights and will fight for them.A serf begs for them.

"Progress made under the shadow of the policeman's club is false progress."

I believe that liberty is the only genuinely valuable thing that men have invented, at least in the field of government, in a thousand years. I believe that it is better to be free than to be not free, even when the former is dangerous and the latter safe. I believe that the finest qualities of man can flourish only in free air – that progress made under the shadow of the policeman's club is false progress, and of no permanent value. I believe that any man who takes the liberty of another into his keeping is bound to become a tyrant, and that any man who yields up his liberty, in however slight the measure, is bound to become a slave. -- H.L. Mencken

On the efficacy of passive resistance in the face of the collectivist beast. . .

Had the Japanese got as far as India, Gandhi's theories of "passive resistance" would have floated down the Ganges River with his bayoneted, beheaded carcass. -- Mike Vanderboegh.

In the future . . .

When the histories are written, “National Rifle Association” will be cross-referenced with “Judenrat.” -- Mike Vanderboegh to Sebastian at "Snowflakes in Hell"

"Smash the bloody mirror."

If you find yourself through the looking glass, where the verities of the world you knew and loved no longer apply, there is only one thing to do. Knock the Red Queen on her ass, turn around, and smash the bloody mirror. -- Mike Vanderboegh

From Kurt Hoffman over at Armed and Safe.

"I believe that being despised by the despicable is as good as being admired by the admirable."

From long experience myself, I can only say, "You betcha."

"Only cowards dare cringe."

The fears of man are many. He fears the shadow of death and the closed doors of the future. He is afraid for his friends and for his sons and of the specter of tomorrow. All his life's journey he walks in the lonely corridors of his controlled fears, if he is a man. For only fools will strut, and only cowards dare cringe. -- James Warner Bellah, "Spanish Man's Grave" in Reveille, Curtis Publishing, 1947.

"We fight an enemy that never sleeps."

"As our enemies work bit by bit to deconstruct, we must work bit by bit to REconstruct. Be mindful where we should be. Set goals. We fight an enemy that never sleeps. We must learn to sleep less." -- Mike H. at What McAuliffe Said

"The Fate of Unborn Millions. . ."

"The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their Houses, and Farms, are to be pillaged and destroyed, and they consigned to a State of Wretchedness from which no human efforts will probably deliver them. The fate of unborn Millions will now depend, under God, on the Courage and Conduct of this army-Our cruel and unrelenting Enemy leaves us no choice but a brave resistance, or the most abject submission; that is all we can expect-We have therefore to resolve to conquer or die." -- George Washington to his troops before the Battle of Long Island.

"We will not go gently . . ."

This is no small thing, to restore a republic after it has fallen into corruption. I have studied history for years and I cannot recall it ever happening. It may be that our task is impossible. Yet, if we do not try then how will we know it can't be done? And if we do not try, it most certainly won't be done. The Founders' Republic, and the larger war for western civilization, will be lost.

But I tell you this: We will not go gently into that bloody collectivist good night. Indeed, we will make with our defiance such a sound as ALL history from that day forward will be forced to note, even if they despise us in the writing of it.

And when we are gone, the scattered, free survivors hiding in the ruins of our once-great republic will sing of our deeds in forbidden songs, tending the flickering flame of individual liberty until it bursts forth again, as it must, generations later. We will live forever, like the Spartans at Thermopylae, in sacred memory.

-- Mike Vanderboegh, The Lessons of Mumbai:Death Cults, the "Socialism of Imbeciles" and Refusing to Submit, 1 December 2008

"A common language of resistance . . ."

"Colonial rebellions throughout the modern world have been acts of shared political imagination. Unless unhappy people develop the capacity to trust other unhappy people, protest remains a local affair easily silenced by traditional authority. Usually, however, a moment arrives when large numbers of men and women realize for the first time that they enjoy the support of strangers, ordinary people much like themselves who happen to live in distant places and whom under normal circumstances they would never meet. It is an intoxicating discovery. A common language of resistance suddenly opens to those who are most vulnerable to painful retribution the possibility of creating a new community. As the conviction of solidarity grows, parochial issues and aspirations merge imperceptibly with a compelling national agenda which only a short time before may have been the dream of only a few. For many Americans colonists this moment occurred late in the spring of 1774." -- T.H. Breen, The Marketplace of Revolution: How Consumer Politics Shaped American Independence, Oxford University Press, 2004, p.1.